A Little Rant!

I hope you don't mind, but I need to rant! As you may know, a couple of years ago I founded a non-profit organization called BC Digital Divide that gives out free computers to less fortunate families throughout my province. I do not get paid a cent for this, nor do any of the other volunteers. But it definitely is the best thing I've ever done in my life and something I'm very proud of.

But ... one thing I've learned from the experience is that there are some people out there who live their lives by the credo: "If someone gives me an inch then I'll see if I can take a mile."

This morning I received two calls from an older lady who we gave a computer to in December. She was very appreciative at the time.

Yet:

• She ignored the one & only request we made of her, to send a short thank you note to the tech who put together her computer. She couldn't be bothered, I guess.

• She also couldn't be bothered to read a brief information sheet which mentioned that sometimes a password appears on the computer. We then specify what that password is.

• She also didn't bother to read the part mentioning that we simply can't provide free technical support to our past recipients, especially now that we have about 500 of them. To this end we convinced some techs around Metro Vancouver to work at cut rate prices compared to their usual rates, to help our recipients.
  

As I mentioned previously, I received two calls from her [to my home]. Guess what time the first one was at? 2am. Yup. When she called again at 11:30am, in the middle of my work day, I asked her why on earth she had thought to call in the middle of the night and wake me up. "Uhhhh, uhhhh, I thought it was your work number."

So I gave her the answer to her password problem. Then she pressed on to ask me about why she was getting some message when she tried to play the song, "Oh, Daddy, Oh".

I almost lost it, but I kept my composure. I politely explained to her my situation and that she simply cannot expect free technical support from me or any other of our other volunteers whenever she wants it. I was calm, polite, and respectful. I suggested that she go onto our Resources page and contact one of the techs listed there, someone she will have to pay, albeit at a highly reduced rate.

And her response? A few quick words of disgust back at me and then she hung up.

So let's see ... we gave her a quick computer, set it up for her, and helped her celebrate a much nicer Christmas. But now I'm the "bad guy". Hmmm . . .

Some people!!!

-- End of Rant --